Dialogue in the Ukrainian society

Current situation in Ukraine: ways to find mutual understanding

Dialogue on searching for mutual understanding in the Ukrainian society

As a response to the situation which has developed in the Ukrainian society, Foundations for Freedom launch a series of Dialogues on the "Current situation in Ukraine: ways to find mutual understanding". These Dialogues are aimed at the search for understanding amongst Ukrainians.

We understand dialogue as the process and method of communicating in order to build interaction between people, who share their experience, ideas, and thoughts on the selected topic. Dialogue is aimed at bringing a new wider understanding of the situation due to the communication with people who possess different points of view.

Dialogues on the "Current situation in Ukraine: ways to find the understanding" are organised by Foundations for Freedom in order to help Ukrainians build solidarity around the values of civil society by searching for understanding, both on the community and individual levels.

We are inviting people with different points of view on the events taking place on the `maidans` (main squares) of Ukraine, who would like to try to extend the boundaries of their understanding of the social and political situation in the Ukrainian society, be ready to hear, try to understand, and maybe accept another point of view. Dialogues are free and open for participation.

Dialogue principles:

Respect towards the right to have one’s own view of the world.

Active listening ‒ in order not to agree or believe, but rather to understand.

First-person speaking based on own beliefs and personal experience.

Equal opportunity of all participants to express their opinion.

Confidentiality. Information and ideas learnt during the dialogue may and should be shared, however, without indicating names of participants.

Several dialogues were already run at the end of December 2013 in Kyiv, Simferopol, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Lviv. The citizens with different opinions on the revolutionary situation in Ukraine, namely at Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv, joined the meetings.

Dialogues are run by facilitators based on the Healing the Past dialogue methodology, a part of the Ukrainian Action: Healing the Past project, which has been implemented by Foundations for Freedom since 2010.

Dates and places of the dialogues are being constantly updated. The most up-to-date information can be found on our web-site, as well as in the corresponding FB group.

Organisers:Foundations for Freedom INGO in partnership with Lutheran Church of St.Catherine (Kyiv), Centre of Regional Development "Top-Kaya" (Simferopol), Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv).

The team of organisers is looking for partners interested in organisation and running dialogues in Kyiv and other locations in Ukraine. If you are ready to contribute, have ideas and/or suggestions, please, get in touch with us.